The Cairo Question: ‘Coup’ or Something Else?

Video: WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib on the U.S. reaction, and the debate over whether the military’s actions should be called a coup d’etat.

What is and what isn’t a coup, and who gets to decide?

The question may seem academic, but it suddenly became of crucial importance as crisis shook Egypt Wednesday. The Egyptian military, making good on a veiled threat made two days earlier, moved in to oust President Mohammed Morsi and put in place a different civilian leadership, led by the head of the country’s constitutional court and a former United Nations official.

Associated Press

Egyptians wave a national flag as fireworks light the sky over Tahrir Square on Wednesday.

Mr. Morsi’s backers immediately said that represented a coup. Morsi opponents said the opposite. Naguib Abadeer, a member of the opposition Free Egyptians Party, told CNN that the army’s action “is not by any means a military coup. This is a revolution.”

He added: “The people have decided that Mr. Morsi was no longer the legitimate leader of Egypt.”

The key distinction may lie in what happened after the military move. There’s a tendency to think of a coup as a move by military officers to throw out a civilian leader—and then take power themselves. That isn’t what happened in Egypt, where the military made its move, and then immediately turned power over to other civilian political figures.

Now, one key question is whether the American government considers the Egyptian military move a coup or not. The U.S. isn’t in the practice of backing coups, and often suspends aid to governments that have taken power in coups. That’s no small consideration for Egypt, for the Obama administration just last month decided to move ahead with $1.3 billion in military aid; earlier this year it released $250 million in economic aid.

In a statement released late Wednesday, President Obama expressed concern over the army’s actions and indicated they will prompt a review. “Given today’s developments, I have also directed the relevant departments and agencies to review the implications under U.S. law for our assistance to the Government of Egypt,” the statement said.

And previously, Pentagon officials have warned that if military actions were seen as a coup, there would be “consequences.” But a senior defense official noted it will not be the Pentagon’s decision whether to classify the military’s actions as a coup, or something else.

The term coup—short for coup d’etat, or “stroke of state” in French—is term of art more than a technical definition. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines it as “a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics; especially the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group.”

Wednesday’s change in Egypt certainly was sudden and decisive, but it wasn’t violent and it wasn’t carried out by a small group but by a large army.

Certainly the U.S., which wants to find ways to help stabilize the country that has long been a big and important Arab friend, has reasons to avoid using the coup term, with all the baggage that carries. Indeed, an American spokeswoman, given the first chance to characterize the change as a coup, ducked the opportunity.

At the State Department, spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki was briefing reporters even as the Egyptian army was moving. She was asked: “In the diplomatic parlance, whenever the military takes the president, the democratically elected president, and places them under house arrest, is that considered a coup d’etat?”

She replied: “I’m not going to speak to reports that we don’t have a confirmation of.”

Perhaps more important, there already is broad sympathy for the Egyptian military’s move in Congress, where fondness for Mr. Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood part was distinctly limited.

“The Egyptian military has long been a key partner of the United States and a stabilizing force in the region, and is perhaps the only trusted national institution in Egypt today,” Rep. Eric Cantor, Republican Majority leader in the House, said in a statement.

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